


Immortal, Not Impervious

by st_mick



Series: Niffler [23]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Torchwood
Genre: Angst, Arguments, CoE - Day Four - Reimagined, Explanations, Flashbacks, M/M, Too much trauma to expect a constructive conversation, filling in plotholes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-12
Updated: 2019-05-12
Packaged: 2020-03-01 10:30:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,346
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18798544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/st_mick/pseuds/st_mick
Summary: Jack explains his role in Earth's 1965 encounter with the 4-5-6.  Ianto tries to support him, but his attempts are rebuffed.  He uses legilimency to learn more about the aliens, but his repeated attempts to learn more about the aliens are beginning to take a toll.  He soldiers on as he and Jack convince the Prime Minister to allow them to take up the talks with the aliens.





	Immortal, Not Impervious

“The Indonesian Flu was set to mutate.  An outbreak the likes of which the Earth hadn’t seen since the Spanish Flu took so many in 1918,” Jack spoke in a low voice, reluctantly remembering a time he’d rather forget.  “The 4-5-6 offered us a cure, in exchange for twelve children.”

“You told us we were going on an adventure,” Clem snorted.  “I didn’t want to walk to the light, so I hung back.  Then the light was gone, and I ran.”  He looked around, eyeing Gwen before staring at Jack.  “You are in every nightmare I’ve ever had.”

“I’m sorry,” Jack spoke quietly.  “I’m really sorry.  I…”

Moving surprisingly fast, Clem grabbed Gwen’s gun and shot Jack. 

Ianto caught him as he fell, then extending a hand, he snarled, “ _Expelliarmus_!”  As the gun flew through the air, it dismantled.  Bullets, the empty magazine, and the component parts of the gun landed on Gwen’s desk.  “Mrs. Williams,” he spat, “kindly clean and reassemble your weapon before returning it to the armoury.  You are not to check out another until you have requalified in weapons safety.”

Gwen bristled.  “You can’t disarm me.  I’m SIC.”

“Actually,” Owen stepped in.  “As armourer, Ianto can disarm any of us, Jack included.”

“That was a safety breach.  You should have put your weapon in the drawer when you arrived, hours ago,” Mickey pointed out.

Gwen huffed, then deflated.  “You’re right.”  She looked at Clem.  “Now don’t be frightened, but Jack is going to wake back up in a moment.  It’s normal, okay?  Just something he does.”

“No,” Clem backed away. 

“Perhaps the Botanical Room?” Ianto suggested.

“Right,” Gwen said, taking Clem by the arm.  “Come on, Clem.  Let’s get out of here, for a moment.”

A few minutes later, Jack drew in a deep breath, then his eyes opened.  Since the bulk of the vortex energy had been drawn from him, reviving had become much less violent, much less terrifying.  But as always, Ianto was there, holding him, anchoring him while he reorientated.  He breathed in his lover’s scent, then the world came crashing back.  His eyes opened, and he shoved away from Ianto, as hard as he could, before Ianto could realize what a monster Jack really was and then push _him_ away.

Ianto lost his balance and fell, landing hard on his backside.  “Jack,” he gasped, surprised. 

“No,” Jack backed away, trying to collect himself.  “Just let me breathe, for fuck’s sake!”

Only Donna seemed to notice the grief that passed over Ianto’s face before he schooled his features, a bland sort of mask covering the pain.  Ianto stood and headed for the kitchen area, grabbing a bottle of water from the refrigerator.  He came back and handed it to Donna, nodding towards Jack.  “I don’t think he’ll take it from me,” he said, his voice so sad and low that she almost didn’t catch his words.

After Jack drank the water Donna handed him, he began to calm.  Gwen and Clem came back down to the main area.

“The man who sent me and my friends to die can’t die, himself,” Clem muttered.

Jack winced.

“So you just handed them over and hoped for the best?” Gwen asked, her eyes wide and disbelieving.

“They chose me to do the exchange,” Jack said, ignoring her comment.  “They chose me because they needed someone who didn’t care.”

“Bullshit,” Ianto spat, and everyone jumped.  Jack Harkness could be accused of many things, but not caring would never be one of them.  His eyes widened in realization.  “They chose you because you’d been through too much, already.  Knew you could stomach that kind of exchange, because after so many wars, you’d know that sometimes a few must be sacrificed to save the many.”

“Don’t be naïve, Ianto,” Jack bristled, all his anger seeming to focus on his lover.  “Don’t fool yourself that it was anything that noble,”

“No, there was nothing noble about it.  But you knew that without the Doctor, there was no fighting the aliens.  And you knew that if Earth refused, the losses would have been in the tens of millions.  And you knew that if _you_ refused, they still had the ability to make your life a misery.”

Jack looked startled.  Those had been his justifications to himself, but hearing them from Ianto, they actually sounded... reasonable.

Ianto looked at the others.  “It was 1965.  Jack was a contractor.  No authority, with Torchwood, or anywhere else.”  He was seething, now.  “And then they added insult to injury by convincing you that you were the heartless one, when not a single decision that had been made had been within your power.”  His eyes were glittering with rage.  “Toshiko, think you can find out who the decision makers were, back then?”

“On it,” Tosh said, her voice clipped.  She had been tempted to think the worst of Jack, but Ianto had shattered the ridiculous notion.  Jack, not care? 

No way.

“But it was a protection racket.  You must have known they’d be back,” Gwen said.

Jack nodded.  “I knew it was a possibility.  They wouldn't listen.”

“Why us?” Clem asked.

“They figured you wouldn’t be missed,” Jack shrugged.  He felt the shame eating at his guts.

“I can see that,” Clem said reasonably.

“All this time, the one consolation I had was, the deal seemed to work.”

“Well, it worked for forty years,” Rhys spoke up.  “That’s not a bad breathing space.”

“Why was I left behind?” Clem asked.

“Not sure,” Jack breathed.  “Clearly they’d tuned into you, since you’re reacting to them, still.

“Well, they were amateurs, weren’t they?” Ianto asked.  “New to extortion, didn’t know that it would work, they took what they could get and turned tail, happy to have gotten _something_.”

“Well, clearly they’ve gone pro,” Mickey said.  “Asking for ten percent of the children.  That’s definitely the big time.”

“They’ve gotten cocky,” Ianto said.  “We can use that.”

“Is that what you picked up earlier?” Owen asked.

“You read them again?” Jack whirled around. 

“I wasn’t trying to read them, this time.  Just trying to find the path, so to speak.  It was fine.  Wasn’t it, Owen?” Ianto glared at the doctor.

“Yeah, he’s good,” Owen said.

Several minutes passed, and then Ianto turned to Jack.  “Tell them the rest,” he said, his voice soft.

“Ianto,” Jack just looked weary, now.

“No, Jack.  They need to understand.  We don’t have time for them to turn on you like they did, after Jasmine.”

The air seemed to leave the hub as they were all reminded of another child Jack had allowed strange creatures to take.  Every head turned to Ianto, and Jack’s eyes now bored into him angrily.  He stared back defiantly.

“ _They_ turned,” Jack said slowly, remembering.  _“You_ never said a word.”

“It was right after Lisa.  What could I have said?”

“But you knew.”

“Of course I did.  The wizarding community and even magical creatures know to steer clear of the fae.  They are capricious and ruthless.”  He sighed.  “And other than that rose petal, they never got into the hub.  Why do you think that is?”

Jack blinked.  “You were protecting us.”

“I got permission to bring my wand in and ward the place,” Ianto said, still hating the years he’d spent, having to ask permission before doing magic.

“That’s why there was sage everywhere!” Tosh exclaimed.

“And that’s why I tried to convince you all to stay in the hub, until it was done,” Ianto nodded.  Then he sighed.  “But we’re getting sidetracked.  Jasmine chose to go with the fae.”  He held up a hand to stop Gwen from arguing.  Again.  “Even as children, we know our own nature, Gwen.  She may not have been of age, but she was well past the age of reason.  She knew what she was, and where she belonged.  The fae choose no one who is not willing.”

Gwen grumbled and crossed her arms.

“Had Jack attempted to keep Jasmine from the fae, the world would have ended.”  He shivered.  “Luna saw it,” he said quietly to Jack.  “You did the right thing, terrible though it seemed.”  He reached out to touch Jack, but then caught himself and drew his hand back.

“So what is he meant to tell us, then?” Owen asked, his arms crossed over his chest, withholding judgment, for the moment. 

“Their primary manipulation,” Ianto said, watching Jack closely.  “The reason they knew they’d be able to use Jack.”

Jack’s head dropped and he slumped, defeated.  “The Spanish Flu,” he whispered.  “In 1918, it took my Anna.”  He looked up, and the pain of the loss was clearly still fresh.  “My wife.”

“And,” Ianto prompted.

Jack glared at Ianto.  “And our unborn child,” he gritted.  He shoved past Ianto and headed into his office.  Glass rattled as the door slammed.

“You’re in trouble now, Wizard Boy,” Owen said, though his tone held none of its usual bite.

“It doesn’t matter, now,” Ianto said, his voice flat.  He straightened.  “But you all need to understand, so we can move on from this, as a team.  Jack has had to make terrible decisions, yes.  But they have _always_ been for the good of us all.  And they have always taken a piece of him, in the process.  He’s immortal, not impervious.”

“Did you know?” Gwen asked.  “About the children?”

Ianto stiffened.  “Jack has lived a long time.  It would be foolish of me to think I can know everything that has happened to him.”

“But you knew about his wife,” Donna said quietly.  “How did you know they used that against him?”

“As soon as he mentioned the Indonesian Flu, I guessed,” he said.  “I mean, if you need someone to do something that terrible, you need to properly motivate them, right?”  He sighed.  “And it would seem they pulled out all the stops.”

“They’re all gone,” Tosh said, turning from her computer.  “There’s no one who helped to make the decision back then who is still alive, now.”

“Aww, that’s a shame,” Owen said, clapping Ianto on the shoulder and trying to lighten the mood.  “It’d have been nice to see them turned into ducks.”

Ianto gave a start as the others chuckled and chose not to share that he was now angry enough to expand his experience with the unforgivables. 

And he wasn’t sure how he felt about that.

***

Jack came back out of his office when Tosh called out to him.  Frobisher was asking what would happen to the children.  The 4-5-6 invited a cameraman into its containment unit, and they watched in horror as the camera showed a child connected to the creature by tubes.

“He’s still just a child,” Jack said, horrified.

“What have you done to him?” Frobisher asked, which seemed to set the alien off. 

In its apparent anger, it outed the previous arrangement.  Then it threatened to wipe out the entire species if it did not receive its tithe of children.

Back in COBRA, with the alien out of the bag, General Pierce pretty much guaranteed the end of Prime Minister Green’s tenure.

***

After the fireworks at Thames House and COBRA were done, Jack retreated, once more.  Ianto made coffee for everyone, then carried two cups to Jack’s office, clearly intending to beard the lion in his own den.

“Coffee doesn’t cure everything, Ianto,” Jack sighed, seeing the wizard approach.

“No, but it’s an excuse to have a conversation,” Ianto said, sitting on the edge of the desk, setting Jack’s mug in front of him, and taking a sip of his own, to steady his nerves.  “This must have been eating away at you.  Why didn’t you tell me?  I could’ve helped.”

“No, you couldn’t,” Jack shoved the mug away, refusing comfort of any kind.

Ianto patiently slid the mug back.  “I think we’ve been a great comfort to one another, over many things.”  He sat back and looked at Jack.  “I’ve only just scraped the surface, haven’t I?” He sighed, his heart aching because he would gladly spend the next few millennia digging deeper.  But Jack wasn’t going to allow it.

“Ianto, that’s all there is,” Jack said impatiently.

“No.  You pretend that’s all there is.”

“I’ve lived a long time.  I’ve done a lot of things.  A lot of ugly things.”

“I know,” Ianto said simply.  “I know, and I’m still here.  But I know you, Jack.  I know who you are, _now_.  I know the man you believe the Doctor and Rose Tyler remade.”

Jack felt like he was drowning.  He couldn’t breathe.  If Ianto didn’t leave, he was afraid what he might do.  An ugly, violent desperation was clawing its way out, and he was genuinely afraid he might hurt the younger man.  “Now who’s pretending?” he asked, his voice harsh.  All he could think was he needed for Ianto to leave.  “You know nothing,” he spat.

“Jack,” Ianto swallowed his hurt and anger, and tried to soothe.

“You actually think I’ve been happy, these past few months,” Jack hissed, and for the second time in three days, he realized too late that he had gone too far.  The jolt was enough to soften some of the panic.

Ianto stood stiffly, his face angry.  “I know what you’re doing.  You’re trying to drive me away.  And don’t worry; I’m going.  You win, Jack.  If you’re just blustering, maybe we’ll talk.  But if you mean it, then like I said before, more fool me.  I’ll end my tour once we’re out of this mess, yeah?”

Jack could only sigh with relief when Ianto left his office.  He took the Webley from where he’d been gripping it in his lap and set it on his desk, his hands shaking.  He quailed at the thought that he could have hurt Ianto, in his panic.  But as he thought back over their words, he wondered if shooting his lover might have been kinder. 

He hoped apologies and explanations might be enough, once they were out of this crisis.

***

Ianto closed the door behind him.  He straightened his waistcoat, then his tie, then shot his cuffs.  He ran a shaking hand through his hair, then took a breath.  As he stepped forward, a sharp pain cut across his temples.  He barely bit back a cry of pain, but could not keep himself on his feet.  He crashed painfully to his knees, holding his head.

“Ianto!” he heard someone cry out, from a great distance, then he felt as though he had stepped into some sort of dream.  But it was no dream.  It was a memory.

_“Glenda!  Where’s me firewhisky?” Aeron Jones called out to his wife._

_There was that feeling in the air.  That feeling that always heralded another drinking binge.  He’d gone a month without drinking, this time.  But this feeling, the tension of his craving, had been building for a few days, now._

_Ianto and Rhiannon, ages five and eight, crouched beside the sofa, hoping to be overlooked.  In a rare moment of solidarity, she put an arm around him.  “It’ll be okay,” she whispered._

_Ianto smiled, his heart swelling.  “I love you, Rhi,” he said, conjuring a small flower for her._

_In the next moment, her face contorted with rage.  She pushed him out into the middle of the room and stood.  “Tad, he did it again!  Said he loves me and made a flower,” she spat._

_Ianto braced himself for another beating.  His father had not touched him since what his mother called “the accident” had happened, but now he was certain his luck had run out._

_They were all surprised with Aeron began laughing.  It was a harsh, cruel noise.  “Love?  You worthless cunt, who do you think would ever love you?”  He looked to Rhiannon.  “Would you, little Rhia?”_

_She shook her head vehemently._

_“No use pretending, boy.  You’re nothing!  You’ll never amount to anything, and you’ll certainly never win anyone’s love.”_

***

“What’s happened?” Jack came out of his office to find Donna and Owen crouching next to Ianto.

“Looks like a flashback,” Owen muttered as Donna rubbed the back of Ianto’s neck.  “You all right, kiddo?”

Ianto dropped his hands and drew in a deep breath.  “Just a memory.  Stirred up by the 4-5-6.  I’m all right.”

“You’re shaking like a leaf,” Donna said as she and Owen helped him to his feet.

“Just need some air,” he said, then turned on the spot and vanished.

“Shit!” Owen exclaimed, more worried than he cared to admit.  He didn’t like that doing legilimency on the aliens was digging up old trauma.  And he knew Ianto wasn’t going to stop doing it, if he thought it might provide them an advantage.

“Just give him a minute,” Donna said.  “Whatever he just remembered, it wasn’t nice.”

“What do you mean?” Jack asked, his concern growing.

Donna shook her head.  “That was real pain I saw,” she said.

Jack swore.

***

Ianto was back within a quarter hour, looking pale but composed.  No one was particularly convinced by the bland mask he hid behind, but there really wasn’t much to be done as the gold command meeting was about to begin in COBRA.

The Prime Minister disgusted everyone by speaking about a ‘realistic number’ of children to offer the aliens.  Ianto kicked over Mickey’s desk when they began speaking in terms of ‘units’.  As they waited for Frobisher to make his way back to Thames House, he waved a hand, and it was set right, again.  “Sorry,” he muttered.

“Hey, if you didn’t, I would have,” Mickey said.  “And then I’d just be asking you to clean it up.”  He flung an arm around Ianto’s shoulder but dropped it when Ianto stiffened.  “You all right, mate?”

“Fine,” Ianto answered, a bit too quickly.

He did not notice Jack watching the exchange from the opposite side of Tosh’s workstation.  Jack was concerned.   Ianto’s temper didn’t normally get away from him, like that.  And Jack was well aware that he had thoroughly blown his chance to get an honest answer out of his lover, at this point.  Ianto was going to insist he was fine, even if he was about to collapse.

When Frobisher offered six thousand, seven hundred children, the 4-5-6 balked. 

Ianto ran to Clem as the older man began chanting.  His eyes flashed golden, then back to blue.  He turned Clem loose and stepped back.  His eyes flashed golden again, and he partially transfigured as he found his way to the creature who was causing the chanting. 

He saw a control room.  The creature was sort of wired in to a control panel that allowed it to communicate with its cohort in Thames House, as well as tune in to the children.  He gently nudged further to see just where they planned to put all of these children.

Ianto jerked away from the connection, stumbling to his knees and beginning to heave.  Jack was beside him in an instant, holding him up as he vomited bile into the small bin Owen shoved under his chin.

Toshiko was there next, pouring cool water onto a handkerchief and mopping his face.  As he calmed, he reluctantly pulled away from Jack and transfigured back to fully human.  He accepted the water Tosh offered, sipping it slowly as Owen gave him a shot of vitamins and another antiemetic. 

“Any way I can get you to stop doing that?” Jack asked, his voice holding more concern than annoyance.

“It’s just one ship,” Ianto said, coughing.  He took another sip of water.  “Far side of the moon.  It’s big.  They have a… a sort of storage bay.  It’s huge.  They plan to do whatever it is they do to put the kids in stasis and then just stack them, like cord wood…” he began heaving again, choking up the small bit of water he had managed to swallow.  Jack reached out and rubbed his arm.

Once he calmed again, he pulled out of Jack’s grasp and went on, his voice ragged.  “They’ve calculated exactly how many they can fit in there, and that’s how many they’ve asked for.”  He sucked in another breath.  “The one I saw.  It… it was all it could do, to focus on its work.  All it could think about was its next ‘hit’.

“You mean they pass the kids around, like a drug?” Mickey asked. 

Ianto nodded.  “They have a sort of lounge set up.  Like an opium den.  All eleven kids are in that one room, and they take turns hooking up to them, for a ‘hit’.  The one down here won some kind of a lottery, to be able to stay hooked up to the kid for longer than the usual allotted time.”

“That is disgusting,” Donna said, looking ill.  Then she blinked.  “Wait.  They only have eleven kids.  But if there are eleven in their opium den and one in Thames House… They have a spare?”

Ianto nodded again.  “This crew is operating on its own.  They’re scavengers.  They came across a wreck and the only survivor was a human child.  They did try to save it by hooking it up to one of them – as a sort of life support until they could get it to a space station – but there was some sort of feedback in the line, and the creature got its first hit.  They got tired of sharing the poor kid, so they came to Earth, for more.”

“And like the amateurs you thought they were, they took the eleven kids and ran for it,” Owen said, running a hand through his hair.

“Yeah.  Twelve are enough for them to share among the crew, but they each want one of their own now, and they think they’ll strike it rich if they take a supply back to their planet.”

“Oh, Christ,” Owen swore.

“Jack, what about the Shadow Proclamation?” Tosh asked.

Jack shook his head.  “They’d never get here in time.”

“The Doctor?” Ianto asked, reluctantly.

“I tried.  He’d be here if it wasn’t a fixed point.  Whatever happens next has to happen, and we’re on our own.”

“Of course we are,” Ianto scoffed bitterly. 

He had enough of the sight to know what would have to happen, now.  He sighed.  Nothing for it, then.

***

Those gathered in COBRA began discussing the worst case scenario, and deciding how to choose the children.  Denise Riley distinguished herself, particularly.

“We’ve got enough to destroy every person in that room,” Tosh gritted.

“And now we can use it to get in to Thames House and get face to face with this thing.”

“And do what, Sir?  Wave our arms at it?” Ianto asked.

Jack blinked.

“We need a plan, Jack.  Something to back up whatever it is you plan to say.  We need to go in there with more than swagger.”

Jack stared at him, for a moment, wanting to kiss the defiance off of his face.  “Toshiko, any ideas?” he asked, still looking at Ianto.

Ianto felt strange, under the scrutiny.  Why was Jack looking at him like that?

“We need more information, Jack.  Now we know where they are, but other than that signal, I have no idea… how…” her eyes widened.  “Maybe.  I have an idea.  But I need…”

“And there it is.  We’ll have to bluff our way in, Ianto, and then go from there.  Hopefully we can buy enough time for Tosh to figure out how to send them packing.”

“Give me five minutes,” Ianto said.  He went down to the archives, then returned with a pair of black safety welding goggles.

“Heading to Thunderdome or something?” Owen asked, chuckling.

“Well, they’re addicts, right?  Probably paranoid and punchy.  Don’t think I want them to see my eyes start to glow.”

“Ianto, you can’t keep doing legilimency on them.  You’re making yourself ill,” Owen was genuinely concerned.

“Just give me another shot.  Luna told me I need to read them so I know when to cast a particular charm.”

“What charm?” Jack asked.

“She said I’d know when the time came.”  He shrugged.  “Seers, right?  Wouldn't know what to do if they weren't being all enigmatic, and shit.”  He turned to Toshiko.  “If I call your name, I need for you to disable the non-Torchwood cameras, okay?”

She nodded.

“Okay, let’s do this,” Jack said, clapping his hands, then rubbing them together.

Toshiko hit a key.  All of the computers in COBRA began playing back the more incriminating portions of the conversation.  Tosh then hijacked the large projector that had shown them the conversations in Thames House.  As they'd discussed, Jack and Ianto stood shoulder to shoulder in front of a plain brick wall, staring at the politicos.

“Good afternoon, everyone.  Captain Jack Harkness and Ianto Jones, here.  As you can see, Torchwood has been recording all of your little conversations.”

“Torchwood was supposed to be destroyed,” Green gritted.

“Yeah, about that,” Jack grinned.  “Lizzie’s a bit peeved that you let Johnny boy there try to take us out.”  His grin grew as Green sat back in his chair in dismay.  “For the record, any further attempts on me or my team will not be taken lightly.”

Ianto held up the Queen’s edict, the royal seal prominently displayed.  “As you can also see, Torchwood will now be taking over the discussions with the alien.  Perhaps it would not have got so out of hand, had you allowed us to do our jobs, to begin with.”

Jack grinned at Ianto, then turned back to the camera.  “We’re on our way to Thames House.  You go ahead and have your people start evacuating the building, quickly and quietly.  No alarms, nothing to alert your guest.”

“A representative of a clearly hostile alien force is camped out in the building, and you haven’t gotten your people out of there, yet.  Seriously.  What is wrong with you?” Ianto’s anger was getting the better of him again, and Jack brushed their hands together.

“You lot just stay where you are.  We’ll be at Thames House in five.  They’d better be ready for us.”

***

**Author's Note:**

> Once again, some dialogue lifted from CoE. 
> 
> This was going to be one long part, or two short ones. I decided to go with two short ones, so I could post this one before going off to bed.
> 
> Hope my explanations make sense. Great discussions have been had (thanks Milady Dragon and DeeBeader) about the cardinal sin of sacrificing character for plot. CoE might as well be swiss cheese, with plot holes galore, and they shredded their characters for the sake of it. I hope I've at least patched over some of the holes, here.
> 
> Thanks so much for reading - I'll try to post the next part tomorrow. (I guess I mean, later today...)  
> :D


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